1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to indication management in an information model environment.
2. Background Information
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
As the capabilities, diversity, and size of computer systems and networks continue to increase, the complexity of system management also increases. As a tool for managing information handling systems, the Common Information Model or “CIM” is a standard that defines how managed elements in an IT environment are represented as a common set of objects and relationships between them. There are a number of CIMs that are available, most notably those by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), and the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA).
Developing and unifying management standards for desktop, enterprise and Internet environments is a main goal of DMTF, a non-profit, vendor-neutral collaborative body, that is leading the development, adoption and unification of management standards and initiatives for desktop, enterprise and Internet environments. DMTF is chartered to adopt, create and maintain the specifications and technologies that provide management tools that deploy, discover and control management data in a standard way.
DMTF standards are platform-independent and technology neutral, and facilitate cost effective system management. The DMTF's CIM standard is an object-oriented management information model that unifies and extends existing management standards such as SNMP, DMI, and CMIP.
In a CIM environment, the occurrence of an event is represented by an indication. With current CIM standards, a client is able to subscribe to potentially any indication of a system, as the current CIM standards do not allow a provider to determine if a client has the necessary security clearance to consume an indication, nor do they allow providers to require that a client have security clearance in order to consume an indication. Thus, a situation may arise where a client lacking the necessary security clearance to access a resource may nonetheless subscribe to and receive indications for that resource.
Currently, the providers are also unable to prioritize indications by current CIM standards. The current CIM standards also do not provide a mechanism for either a client or a provider to combine indications for delivery. Indications regarding routine matters are provided with the same priority as indications regarding catastrophic matters.